Federal prosecutors have a Thursday deadline to respond to a defense attorney's claims that the corruption case against former Jefferson Parish President Aaron Broussard was tainted by prosecutorial misconduct.

U.S. District Judge Hayden Head also on Wednesday rejected Broussard's bid to disqualify the U.S. attorney's office in New Orleans from handling his case.

Broussard's lawyer, Robert Jenkins, accused former U.S. Attorney Jim Letten's office of failing to thoroughly investigate the source of alleged leaks to reporters about Broussard's impending indictment. Jenkins also said his client was the subject of two prosecutors' anonymous posts on a newspaper's website at the same time Letten's office was investigating him.

Head, however, said holding a hearing on Broussard's claims would afford "little gain" given that Broussard already has pleaded guilty in the case.